Uber Orders 24,000 Volvos For Self-Driving Fleet


Uber has already demonstrated its self-driving car technology many times and it’s now ramping up its efforts to create its very own driverless car fleet. It has inked an agreement with Sweden’s Volvo to purchase 24,000 XC90 sport utility vehicles which will form its fleet of self-driving cars. The Volvo XC90 is already the base of Uber’s current self-driving test car. It has retrofitted the test cars with sensors and autonomous driving hardware to enable them to drive on their own.

The company is currently using 100 XC90 SUVs for testing its self-driving car technology in Pittsburgh, Arizona, and San Francisco.

Bloomberg reports that Uber is going to buy these vehicles from Volvo between 2019 and 2021. This is the first commercial purchase of this size by a ride-hailing service.

Volvo isn’t going to do anything on the self-driving front. Uber will be adding its own sensors and software to these cars so that they can drive themselves.

The new XC90s that Uber is sourcing from Volvo will be more advanced in their self-driving abilities compared to the existing test cars. They will have redundant systems for steering and braking so that they can operate even when there’s no human safety driver behind the wheel.

This goes to show that Uber is well on its way to roll out its own self-driving ride-hailing service. This would enable the company to reduce driver costs on its platforms as it eventually shifts more markets to cars that can drive themselves. It’s going to take a few years but it’s clear that this is now the intention.

Uber Orders 24,000 Volvos For Self-Driving Fleet , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

FAA Approves Flying Cow Drones To Restore Cell Coverage In Puerto Rico


Puerto Rico suffered widespread devastation after it was struck by Hurricane Maria. The island’s power grid was badly affected and residents were left without cellphone reception and internet access. To help restore cellular coverage on the island, the FAA has approved flying cow drones that act as cell towers in the sky.

AT&T describes its flying cow drones as a cell tower in the sky. This is the first time that this technology is being used to reconnect residents after a natural disaster.

The FAA granted its approval to these drones last Friday. They resemble a small helicopter. The “Cow” in Flying Cow actually stands for Cell on Wings.

The drone can hover 200 feet above the ground and it provides wireless service to anyone within a 40 mile area. The drone remains connected to the ground via cables for power and signals. It links up to satellites to transfer texts, data, and calls.

AT&T had to receive a special waiver from the FAA because routine commercial drone use is limited to those that weigh less than 55 pounds.

Google’s parent company Alphabet previously received approval to deploy its LTE Project Loon balloons in Puerto Rico. They’ve help restore connectivity in parts of the island as well.

FAA Approves Flying Cow Drones To Restore Cell Coverage In Puerto Rico , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Nintendo Switch Black Friday Discount Ruled Out


The biggest online shopping event of the year is just around the corner. If you’ve been meaning to pick up Nintendo’s gaming console, you will probably not be happy to hear that a Nintendo Switch Black Friday discount has been ruled out by the company. Nintendo has confirmed that it’s not going to cut the price of its console for this holiday season.

Gaming consoles are one of the most sought-after products during the holiday shopping season. That’s why it was not surprising to see both Sony and Microsoft cut the price of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One respectively this past week.

Nintendo has had a great year so far. There has been ample demand for the new Switch console and its Super Nintendo Entertainment System-inspired mini-console has been very well received too.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé has confirmed in an interview with The Washington Post that Nintendo is working hard to ensure regular supply of both the consoles for the rest of the year.

The company has picked up some lessons from last year’s launch of the NES Classic. Fans didn’t like that it was seemingly impossible to get their hands on one. Therefore, Nintendo decided to increase the SNES Classic supply and to continue selling it into the new year.

As far as the Nintendo Switch Black Friday discount is concerned, Fils-Aimé said that Nintendo isn’t going to discount the console. “We’re focusing on making sure we have robust supply at retail,” he added.

Nintendo Switch Black Friday Discount Ruled Out , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Intel Legacy BIOS Support Ends By 2020


Intel wants to remove the remaining barriers that prevent it from putting legacy BIOS into the ground. The company is now working on a plan to make that possible. Intel is looking to end support for legacy BIOS by 2020. It intends to do that by requiring UEFI Class 3 which doesn’t expose legacy BIOS interfaces.

For those who are unaware, BIOS was the firmware that older PCs rely upon to boot up after they’re powered on. It offered a runtime for the operating system and the software.

That’s no longer the case with modern computers as they feature UEFI or the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. However, they continue to support legacy BIOS in case users want to run software that requires 16-bit BIOS. They can enable that through the Compatibility Support Module.

It was revealed in a recent presentation by Intel technical marketing engineer Brian Richardson that Intel will require UEFI Class 3 and above. It’s going to ditch legacy BIOS support from both its client and datacenter platforms by 2020.

Richardson added that Intel wants to “eliminate components with no UEFI support” so that drivers, utilities, and peripherals work without CSM.

A report points out that Intel hasn’t made Secure Boot mandatory so it’s not like users won’t be able to run unsigned Linux distributions on PCs with UEFI. However, they won’t be able to prevent compatibility issues by using CSM on Intel-powered PCs.

Intel Legacy BIOS Support Ends By 2020 , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Uber Adds Several New Features Including Live Location Sharing


Uber has added several new features ahead of the holiday season when peak demand for rides is often witnessed. As countless people travel across the country to visit their family, Uber wants to make sure that its customers can relax in between the constant going. That’s why it has added these new features like live location sharing.

It can often be challenging for the driver and the user to find one another at busy locations like the mall and airports. Live location sharing will help you find each other.

It lets the driver see where the user is located in relation to their pickup spot. Users can turn this feature on by tapping on the grey icon at the bottom right corner of their screen.

Uber has also expanded its Beacon program. It’s a device that goes on the driver’s windshield to help riders find their cars at night and in crowded areas.

Beacon is now expanding to NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco. Riders can select from an endless number of colors for the Beacon to glow on their driver’s vehicle when they’re matched with one.

Uber has updated its request for a guest feature so that it’s easier to call an Uber for someone else. The person for whom the ride is booked will receive an SMS text message with important trip details like car type, ETA, and the driver’s contact info.

It’s even possible to send Uber credits as gifts to friends and family from within the app. It’s a great last-minute option when you forget picking up a gift for someone this season.

Uber Adds Several New Features Including Live Location Sharing , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Acorns Integrated With PayPal To Help Users Grow Wealth


Acorns is the fastest growing micro-investing app in the country. It relies on a round-up savings and investment system. The app rounds up the amounts of purchases to the nearest dollar and then invests the difference in exchange-traded funded that it manages for its users. It boasts 2.4 million investment accounts and continues to grow. Acorns today announced its integration into PayPal, the integration will help the latter’s users to grow their wealth.

For example, if the customer purchases a latte for $3.99, Acorns will round up the amount and it would invest that penny into an ETF. Users add their credit cards to Acorns for automatic micro-investing. The app is targeted at millennials to help them grow their accounts in small amounts through different sources.

It has been on PayPal’s radar for quite some time now. The payments giant led a $30 million strategic investment round in Acorns with the Rakuten FinTech Fund just last year.

When users log into their PayPal account, they will be able to link their Acorns account form the PayPal home screen. Once their accounts are linked, users can transfer funds, monitor investments, make withdrawals, and also manage their account from the PayPal website and mobile apps.

Starting today, select PayPal customers in the United States will be able to set up and use Acorns within the PayPal app. The integration will be live for all users in the U.S. starting early next year.

Acorns Integrated With PayPal To Help Users Grow Wealth , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Pentagon Accidentally Exposed Internet Surveillance Data


The Department of Defense probably didn’t want poeple to know that it has been collecting billions of public internet posts from news sites, social media networks, and online forums. The cat was let out of the bag accidentally when it exposed the internet surveillance data on its cloud-based storage server. The online storage misconfiguration allowed anyone with a free Amazon AWS account to browse and even download the data.

This was discovered by UpGuard security researcher Chris Vickery. The Department of Defense was storing the billions of public posts that it had collected on Amazon S3 repositories. It didn’t make the storage servers private. What that means is that anyone with a free Amazon AWS account could access the data.

Vickery first noticed this in September. It was discovered that at least 1.8 billion posts of scraped internet content collected over the past 8 years were stored on these unsecured repositories.

The security researcher has added that he made sure that the repositories that were discovered were secured before this was reported to the media. It’s difficult to say, though, if the data had previously been accessed. It’s unclear how long these servers have been unsecured.

The DoD has since confirmed the data leak to CNN. “We determined that the data was accessed via unauthorized means by employing methods to circumvent security protocols,” said Maj. Josh Jacques, a spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command.

Once alerted, Centcom implemented “additional security measures” to ensure that the data can no longer be accessed without authorization.

Pentagon Accidentally Exposed Internet Surveillance Data , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Sega Valkyria Chronicles 4 Announced For PS4, Xbox, And Switch

The Valkyria spinoff that came out earlier this year might have disappointed fans but they’re going to be delighted with what Sega has announced today. It has confirmed that Valkyria Chronicles 4 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch is now being developed. Sega, the publisher of this title, has assured fans that Valkyria Chronicles 4 is going to be released in North America and Europe as well.

This is the first proper new Valkyria game in almost ten years. The last game, Valkyria Chronicles III, was only released for the PSP in Japan back in 2011.

The Valkyria Chronicles 4 game is going to be set in a fictional iteration of Europe during the second world war, much like the earlier titles in this franchise. The game is going to combine turned-based strategy and third-person shooting as players take a group of soldiers into different battles.

“Valkyria Chronicles 4 takes place in the same timeframe as the original Valkyria Chronicles, but focuses on a whole new cast of main characters,” Sega confirmed in a press release.

Players will be taking command of a young and eager soldier called Commander Claude Wallace, heavy weapons extraordinaire Riley Miller, ace sniper Kai Schulen, hotheaded Darcsen Raz, and more.

Sega has confirmed that Hitoshi Sakimoto, the legendary composer, is returning for Valkyria Chronicles 4.

The publisher is yet to confirm a release date but it does say that the title will be out at some point in 2018.

Sega Valkyria Chronicles 4 Announced For PS4, Xbox, And Switch , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Samsung Gear S3 Battery Life Can Now Last 40 Days


Battery life is always a concern with smartwatches. Most get you through the day but it all depends on how you’re using them and if they’re connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. Samsung has rolled out a new update for the Gear S3 today. It’s called a Value Pack update and it brings a handful of new features for the smartwatch. One of the features enables the smartwatch’s battery to last for 40 days.

The Value Pack update is a major firmware update for the Gear S3. Samsung has updated its smartwatch to Tizen 3.0. That’s the latest version of its own OS that ships with the Gear Sport.

So how does the new update extend the smartwatch’s battery life to 40 days? It has a new feature called “Watch only” mode. As the name suggests, this mode will disable all of the smart functionality of the Gear S3 and make it function as any other watch. In this mode, the Gear S3 will only be good for keeping an eye on the time and nothing else.

The implementation of this feature leaves a lot to be desired, though. The Gear S3 doesn’t show the time constantly even when this mode is enabled. Users have to press the power button to check the time after which the display goes blank once again.

If the idea was to turn the smartwatch into a regular watch with this feature, at least Samsung could have thought that having users press the power button again and again to check the time isn’t conducive to a good user experience.

The Watch only mode can be enabled on the Gear S3 by launching the settings menu and going into the Battery management section.

Samsung Gear S3 Battery Life Can Now Last 40 Days , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Low Poly Papercraft LEGO Figures Stand 35″ Tall: Not So Mini Figs

Do you love LEGO as much as I do? Here’s a fun way to add a little extra LEGO to your life, and without using a single brick. These fun papercraft models let you add some giant minifigs (is that an oxymoron?) to your collection.

The guys over at EBURgami offer up design templates which let you build your own XXLfigs using paper, scissors, a knife, and some white glue. The results are some really cool oversize figures which will look great standing in the corner of your room.

The finished models measure in at 85 cm (~35″) tall, making them about 23 times the size of an actual minifig, which typically stands just 1.5″ tall. EBURgami says it should take about 7 hours to assemble one of the figures – assuming you’re handy with scissors and blade.

If you’re up to the challenge, the XXLfig template is about $15 over on Etsy. While you’re there, be sure to check out all of the other awesome papercraft designs available in the EBURgami shop.